‘That’s almost abuse!’: Michael Owen slams decision to bench Ronaldo vs Chelsea
Speaking to the Premier League Productions, Michael Owen said: “Having someone that good in your team and then playing everyone defensively and saying ‘That’s alright we’ll just hope we nick a goal’.
“If you leave Cristiano Ronaldo and all these good players — or just two of them — playing and everyone else defending, they’ll start putting in bad performances because they’ve got nobody to pass to.
“They’ve got no options, they’re chipping the ball form 50 yards away. They need other players to come up and help them. It’s almost abusing the good players they’ve got and that’s the last thing you’ve got to do.
“At the minute, Manchester United just bulk up with sitting midfielders and more defenders and abuse the great players up front leaving half of them on the bench and one or two to play. That’s almost abuse!”
Michael Carrick (or, as Gary Neville suspects, Ralf Rangnick) benched Ronaldo for the Premier League trip to Chelsea on Sunday.
The Stamford Bridge clash ended in a 1–1 draw with the Portuguese forward coming on in the second half and failing to make an impact